Winton l



W.'L. SPRINGER.

TABULAR QUAD OR SPACE.

APPLICATION mzo SEPT. 21, 1912.

l 1 94,89 1 Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WINTON I4. SPRINGER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN OR TO AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TABULAR QUAD OR SPACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WINroN L. SPRINGER,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tabular Quads or Spaces, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to the art of printing and especially to an improved type spacing element as for instance a quad formed as to greatly facilitate the setting up of ruled or tabular forms, the insertion of leads and the like.

In this art a quad, as is well known, is less than type high and has customarily flat end faces, its principal function being to serve as a spacing element between lines. When it is desired to insert one or more leads between adjacent series of quads to widen the line spacing, it is necessary to separate one series of quads from another to provide a clear interspace for the reception of the lead, the insertion of the lead without such preliminary separation of the quads being impossible by reason of the fact that the flat faces of contiguous quads form with each other an unbroken plane surface. Similarly in the setting up of ruled or tabular forms it is customary for the compositor to build the form up gradually by means of rule lengths and interposed spacing elements such as quads, slugs, and spaces, taking the component elements as required from his case and calculating the number and disposition of each necessary to produce the desired pattern of cross ruling and interspacing. Such composition is exceedingly tedious and time consuming and an excess charge is usually made for a job involving much of said tabular work.

By my invention I simplify the placing of rules and leads by imparting to the spacing elements such an end conformation as that when they are assembled in the composition the lines separating adjacent series are clearly defined by grooves which serve as guiding approaches for the edge of the rule or lead and thus render its insertion accurate and easy.

In order that the invention and the manner of its use may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, I have in the accompanying drawing illustrated a preferred and modified embodiment of the same.

In the drawing, Figure 1 shows in perspective a group of quads embodying the invention and assembled with rule lengths; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through Fig. 1; Fig. 3 illustrates in perspective one of the quads shown in Fig. l; and Fig. 4 is a modification.

Having reference to the drawing the numeral l1 designates a quad which may be of any standard size as for instance sixpoint, in which case it would be 6 points square and 57 points long, being less than type high. The upper end of the quad is beveled to present an upwardly tapering end face which may be pyramidal, conical, truncated, or beveled on three sides only. Preferably the upper end is pyramidal, complete or truncated, the facets 12 being symmetrically inclined to the axis of the quad so that when a number of the quads are grouped together, as shown in Fig. 1, there are formed between adjacent horizontal and vertical series rectangularly intersecting V-shaped grooves 13 the facets 12 of adjacent quads forming the opposite walls of the groove which meet below along a line coinciding with the line of separation between the adjacent series of quads, such grooves serving to guide the insertion of rule lengths 14 or leads into the spaces be tween adjacent series to facilitate the setting up of the form.

While I have referred to quads having certain forms of end face adapted to my purpose it will readily be understood that other forms lend themselves to the purposes of the invention, the essential feature being that the upper end of the quad shall be tapered in such manner as to provide intersecting grooves between the adjacent series of quads in a block adapted to be used as a stock form.

Moreover, the usefulness of the quad for the purposes of the invention will be increased by imparting to both ends of the same the tapering shape, pyramidal, conical, or modifications thereof. Such a quad, as shown in Fig. 4, having a square body with two tapering end faces can be very quickly placed in position, as by reason of its symmetrical shape it can be assembled with oth ers in the stick or galley without regard to which end is uppermost or which side is in front.

I claim:

1. As an article of manufacture a spacing element for use in preparing type forms for printing ruled work, the body of which spacing element is less than type high and of rectangular cross section, the upper end thereof being uniformly tapered upwardly and inwardly from the four sides thereof,

substantially as set forth.

2. As an article of manufacture a typespacing quad having a body less than type high, square in cross section, and with its upper end tapered uniformly from each side upwardly and inwardly, substantially as set forth.

WINTON L. SPRINGER.

Vitnesses CHARLES P. Sonmi,

WM. 0. BELT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

